TFA-Wireless Frequently Asked Questions

Q: What is TFA-Wireless?

A: TFA-Wireless is a high-speed wireless Internet service that’s part of Technology For All’s social enterprise strategy to use technology as a tool to empower low-income communities.

Q: What is Techology For All?

A: Technology For All (TFA) is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization dedicated to empowering under-resourced communities through social enterprises using the tools of technology. TFA provides various services, including workforce training, recycling and redeployment of corporate technology assets, document conversion and knowledge management services for the business community, consulting and leadership in its work with over 300 community organizations operating community technology centers (CTCs) in Houston and 56 other U.S. cities. Since 1997, TFA-Houston has assisted Houston-area community-based organizations in creating and developing more than 180 CTCs serving low-income and under-resourced communities. For more information, visit www.techforall.org.

Q: Why is it important for low-income communities to have Internet access?

A: It is the right thing to do! TFA is trying to level the playing field. Many take for granted their ability to have the world at their fingertips and the opportunities that creates. The latest federal figures from the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NITA) show that high-income households are about eight times more likely to have Internet connections than are homes with annual incomes below $10,000. NTIA figures also show that low-income residents, minorities and the unemployed are significantly more likely to use the Internet to take online courses, conduct school research and look for jobs than are high-income users.

Q: How will Houston’s low-income communities benefit from TFA-Wireless?

A: Technology For All has a number of outreach programs to utilize the benefits of home Internet access. Through a program called “Learn and Earn,” students can earn a refurbished desktop or laptop computer by completing a course and providing community service. Another example is “TFA-JobTech,” funded partially by the U.S. Commerce Department’s Technology Opportunity Program. Livable-wage jobs are being created in the neighborhood through TFA-JobTech, which  provides document conversion and knowledge management services for business and industry. Some employees of TFA-JobTech will be able to work in their homes doing document coding and tasks using wireless Internet services provided by TFA-Wireless.

Q: Where is TFA-Wireless available?

A: The initial service area for TFA-Wireless covers about two square miles of the Pecan Park neighborhood in Houston’s East End. The service area is bordered by Griggs Road on the northwest, Lawndale Street and State Highway 225 on the northeast, Loop 610 on the southeast and I-45 South to the southwest.

Q: Who qualifies for TFA-Wireless’ free and reduced-rate services?

A: Any low-income resident of Pecan Park who has a Houston Public Library Power Card and who attends an orientation class at TFA-Houston's community technology center at Mission Milby Community Development Corporation, 2220 Broadway, may be eligible to receive free or reduced-rate Internet service from TFA-Wireless.

Q: Will TFA-Wireless expand its service area in the future?

A: Yes. There are plans to expand the existing network in Houston’s East End. Based on the success of the current network, Technology For All will evaluate plans to build additional networks in other low-income neighborhoods in Houston.

Q: How does TFA-Wireless compare to for-profit high-speed Internet services?

A: TFA-Wireless has established a sustainable business model that allows it to provide free service of 128 Kb/sec to qualified residents with Houston Public Library cards. Higher bandwidth services up to 1 Mb/sec are available for a monthly charge that is significantly less than alternate solutions. Through subscriptions from higher bandwidth customers, TFA-Wireless will sustain the network in order to provide service to those that cannot afford it.

Q: Who constructed the TFA-Wireless network?

A: The TFA-Wireless network was designed and built by Rice University faculty and students in the Rice Network Group, a research group within the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering. The lead scientist on the project is Ed Knightly, associate professor of electrical and computer engineering and associate professor of computer science. The network will provide continuing research opportunities for the Rice Network Group and others because it is one of the largest open networks of its type in the world.

Q: Is TFA-Wireless based on similar technology that is used to provide wireless Internet service in airports and coffeehouses?

A: Yes. All of the hardware components for the TFA-Wireless network are based on the IEEE 802.11 wireless standard. They were available off-the-shelf with a low cost for initial deployment that was significantly less than other solutions.

Q: How does TFA-Wireless’ network differ from other wireless Internet networks?

A: In most locales where wireless Internet access is available today, such as a coffee shop or an airport lounge, each wireless hub requires its own wired connection to the Internet. The cost of providing this wired “backhaul” for each wireless access point typically dominates the cost of the service. Moreover, such “hot-spots” provide a minimal wireless footprint. Knightly and Ph.D. student Joseph Camp developed the TFA-Wireless network architecture that allows the pilot network’s 12 access points to pass information amongst each other. This “multi-hop” wireless network uses only one wireline connection to the Internet, and was therefore able to provide a high level of service at a dramatically reduced deployment cost.

Q: What is the Houston Public Library’s role in the TFA-Wireless project?

A: The Melcher Branch Library is centrally located in the Pecan Park neighborhood. It was the ideal site for a mesh access point, and library officials immediately recognized the benefit that the network would provide to their customers, who can now log in from Melcher’s wireless computers at speeds up to 1 Mb/sec.

Q: What about e-mail and other online services for TFA-Wireless users?

A: The project will harness the citywide SimHouston program to provide free e-mail, desktop software and other online services for TFA-Wireless users.

back